Following breakfast we met with Gary Caufield, who is the General Manager of The Stanley Group’s Auckland office. The Stanley Group is a construction company that has been around for 87 years and operates throughout the country. They have five different divisions of their company, including the Auckland Construction Group, Stanley Eco-Build, Stanley Construction group, Stanley Joinery and Stanley Modular. Gary was an extremely knowledgeable individual and serves on the New Zealand Green Building Council along with his position running Stanley’s Auckland office. During our time with Gary he spoke about multiple topics, including some details on Stanley’s operations, the formation and current state of New Zealand’s green building system and specifics of New Zealand’s green market.
Stanley’s current work load included a 14 story modular housing structure for the University of Auckland, which could be seen out of the meeting room window, and a large amount of “leaky building” rehab projects. The modular building process was very interesting to me but was somewhat foreign as well. It seems to be a good practice that I can see catching on in the states in the very near future. Gary told us that “leaky buildings” were a huge problem in the Auckland area for buildings built between 1985 and 2005. They were a result of exterior cladding being installed in a shotty fashion over untreated timber framing, which causes some serious mold and framing deterioration problems. The New Zealand government has paid serious money out on “leaky building” lawsuits and are currently rolling out a remediation package to address the problem. They are also rolling out a contractor licensing system to ensure that the nation’s builders are competent in proper construction practices.
The green building movement started in New Zealand during the early 2000’s and was pushed by a company known as Beacon Pathway. The New Zealand green building rating system is based on the Australian Green Star rating system and uses a 4, 5 or 6 star rating scale. Gary stated that the system is still a fairly new concept for the New Zealand markets and that there have only been 20 – 30 certified buildings constructed to date. He also said that most developers are developing green buildings because of the economic incentives and that green building is currently slowing down because of the economy. I asked if businesses were currently pursuing operations and maintenance certifications and Gary said that there was some tracking going on but that the rating system was not prepared to qualify currently operating buildings yet.
Following out meeting with Gary we visited the Parnell neighborhood for lunch and a look at the “Geyser Building” , which is a sustainable office tower that is currently under construction. Following lunch we walked over to a 6-star green mixec-use building known as “Ironbank.” The leasing office for the property was closed but a restaurant owner on the first floor gave us access to the building through his space. The building was valued at around $40 million nzd and has a very cool glass and metal look with retail on the first floor and office space on the upper floors. It included many sustainable features, including a car stacking system which the restaurant owner was nice enough to give us a demonstration of.
Overall it was a very informative and enjoyable day. Our visit with Gary Caufield provided us with a wealth of knowledge on how green building works in New Zealand. It also provided the construction professionals in our group with a very in depth look at the modular building system that is used regularly in New Zealand and Australia. The “Ironbank” visit was also very interesting but would have been much better if we were able to meet with a building executive.
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